Shot List

Shot list

Straight cut. Close up of her face looking at writing and smiling. Shaky. ‘neither could I. It didn’t matter…’ (8 secs)

C Fade cut. Long shot of Chmiel playing bass (sitting in bimm room?) ‘there’s just something about him.’ (6 secs)

C Straight cut. Extreme close ups of his fingers playing, quick cuts (fades)? (4 secs)

C Fade cut back to park, medium long shot as before, they sit down on a bench, camera pans and tilts to follow. He leans and kisses her on the cheek. ‘We’ve been going out ages…like 2 months at least.’ (10 secs) – 1 minute

C Fade cut to group of friends talking from before. His friends nudge him and point, he turns and looks at her (shaky pan to her, smiling). ‘It took me a while to notice her, but my friends were so jealous that she liked me.’ Pan back to male group, friends raise their eyebrows and shake heads.’ (12 secs)

C ‘Apparently she was something special’. Medium of Kate laughing in her group. Pos slow motion? (5 secs)

C Fade back to park. ‘I know that he isn’t perfect.’ Getting up from bench long shot. Start walking. (4 secs)

C Straight Cut. Smoking area. Close up of Chmiel putting cigarette in his mouth and lighting it. Change of d.o.f. half way through ‘He smokes.’ (4 secs)

C Straight Cut. Chmiel’s kitchen. Close up pan and tilt following him taking piece of pizza from box, stuffing it in his mouth. ‘Eats A LOT.’ Sped up shots of him taking piece after piece until box is empty. Last shot was pos slow motion ECU on Chmiel’s mouth. (10 secs)

C Medium close up of Chmiel asleep in bed (snoring his face off) and Kate lying next to him covering her ears and looking traumatised. ‘Snores’ pans down the bed to…

C Close up of Chmiel’s feet coming out the end of a bed, wearing HORRID socks. ‘And he wears socks in bed.’ (12 secs)

C Back to park, getting up and walking away, this time camera is in front of them. She’s chatting away, he’s looking uninterested ‘But I don’t mind, to me, he is perfect.’ ‘She’s perfect…’ (10 secs)

C Same shot as before in the smoking area, Chmiel lights a cigarette, but with Kate in the background smiling. Static. ‘She doesn’t care about the cigarettes.’ (5 secs) – 2 minutes

C In Chmiel’s Kitchen, Kate takes one slice of pizza and puts it on her plate. Close up pan and tilt. ‘She always lets me have the most.’ (4 secs)

C (Something about being amazing in bed) Medium shot, very high angle shot of Chmiel looked very pleasured

C Medium close up in bed, Kate asleep, Chmiel looking at her ‘ And she’s beautiful’ (5 secs)

C Back to park, they reach the camera, and walk past, Chmiel has concerned look on his face while Kate is still smiling and chatting away. ‘So why haven’t I fallen for her?’ (7 secs)

C Kate in common room ELS then shaky zoom to MLS, people walking past in front of camera.

C CU over shoulder of Kate’s note pad covered in I love Tom!

C Corridor near common room Chmiel and mates walking with mates. Tracking shot from behind him.

C Switch to over way as he turns round. See the girl wink as he walks by and he turns round to give her a second look over.

C Long shot of the ugly couple sitting on sofa!

C Close up of Kate looking up at him.

C POV low angle close up on Chmiel not moving.

C Long shot of her getting up, stays on him.

C Her in bathroom looking in mirror. Over shoulder shot with kate in the right hand of the frame. (sighs)

C Straight cut to him, close up in left side of frame finishing sigh.

C SC back to her. ‘I can do this..I—

C SC back to him ‘can do this. It shouldn’t be—

C SC back to her ‘this hard. (sigh) I—

C SC back to him ‘Let’s—

C SC back to her ‘Love—

C SC back to him ‘Break—

C SC back to her ‘You—

C SC back to him ‘Up.’

C SC back to her. She quickly fiddles with her hair and makeup and smiles.

C She comes back in, camera tracks behind as she opens door (shaky) Voiceover = ‘Shit, shit’

C Over shoulder shot of him watching her come in (shaky) Voiceover = ‘Shit.’

C Original long shot of them sitting on sofa. Couple of seconds of awkward sitting, both straight up, not looking at each other.

C Medium close up (2-shot) of them in the same position, sitting next to each other. They both turn and take an in-breath to indicate they’re about to speak.

C Straight cut to black. Credits.

Wasp funding info by ADAM RUTHERFORD

Wasp

Location: England, UK

Project name ‘Wasp’ Who is the applicant? Cowboy Films What is the project? A 23 minute short film. Zoe a single mother is in search of an evening escape with an old flame but her romantic aspirations are hampered by her four small children waiting outside in the pub car park. Who gave the money? UK Film Council’s New Cinema Fund What was the grant programme? The ‘Cinema Extreme’ short film scheme co-financed by the UK Film Council’s New Cinema Fund and Film Four. The scheme was created in 2002 to encourage and develop directors with a distinctive directorial voice and cinematic flair. How much was given? The project received a total production budget of £53,250, fifty per cent of this amount was awarded by the New Cinema Fund and the remainder by FilmFour. Additional funds were made available by the UK Film Council to clear music rights and promote the film at international festivals. Where is the project located? The film was shot in and around Dartford, Kent. The ‘Cinema Extreme’ scheme is open to filmmakers and production companies based in the UK. Why was the project so good? The completed film has enjoyed enormous critical success and won 36 awards at international film festivals, including the 2005 Oscar® for Best Live Action Short Film. It has firmly established director Andrea Arnold as one of the most interesting up-and-coming directing talents from the UK. At its premiere at the Edinburgh Film Festival the film attracted the interest of Denmark’s Zentropa and Scotland’s Sigma Films who subsequently commissioned Andrea to work on her debut feature ‘Advance Party’. ‘Wasp’ also helped to launch the career of Nathalie Press who stars in the film as Zoe. Nathalie has since drawn huge acclaim for her role in ‘My Summer of Love’, stars in Martha Fiennes’ ‘Chromophobia’ and is appearing in the BBC’s ‘Bleak House’. All information taken from http://www.lotteryfunding.org.uk/uk/lottery-funders-listing/uk-film-council/ukfilm-wasp-case-study.htm

Arran: Conversation Piece

Conversation Piece is a short film directed by Joe Tunmer for the BBC. Produced by Enrico and Junior from New Treatment.

http://www.newtreatment/ .co.uk

One sleepy Sunday morning, Jean notices a chip on a treasured vase. She accuses Maurice, her husband since whenever. He denies it. Employing a variety of tactics, Jean attempts to get to the bottom of the situation.

The film takes place in a typical English middle class home. The characters themselves are rather stereotypical, or I could argue traditional. Jean is cooking to potatoes for a roast Sunday dinner and her husband Maurice settles down to read his paper in his dressing gown with his toast. There costume is old fashioned as are their roles (Jean working in the kitchen while Maurice relaxes.) I also think it ads to Maurice’s character that he keeps everything in his pockets. His toast, a handkerchief and superglue to fix the pot add the end. It’s funny and just makes him a little more interesting.
The sound is what makes the film so unique. A conversation piece is a track of music which sounds as if two instruments talking. This track is written by Rex Stewart and is a 1966 jazz piece. In the film the couple talks only while the music is playing. We cannot here their words but the instruments play when their mouths open. It is an ironic, funny and a strange ending. The track plays again and jean returns to the room for another conversation. It makes us wonder if they can only talk when the piece is playing.

The story is linear following just these two characters which is a good format for a short film. There is a cliff-hanger ending as we wonder what Jean has returned to say to her husband. It is a musical comedy and as such it is quite light hearted. As an audience we do not find ourselves taking sides but simply viewing a petty household argument.

A shot i found inspiring was the depth shot of the vase, where the first shot is focused on the vase and we can see Maurice out of focus behind it. The next shot although the same focuses on Maurice instead. This emphasizes the importance of the vase then shifts the attention to Maurice very successfully. This is something we could definitely include in our own film.

Arran: Wasp

Wasp takes place on a council estate in London. It is a well made and gritty social realist short film. The camera work is especially typical of social realism using a shaky hand held camera. There is no use of lighting or non diagetic sound. The only music is from the jukebox in the pub and the sound effects are genuine.
Costume hair and makeup are very typical of a working class area of London. Short skirts tracksuits and a ford escort belonging to the main male character.

Allot of close ups were used to reveal facial expression on the characters in the film. In just twenty minutes this really helps us to develop opinions on the characters fast along with the dialogue.

The editing crosses between the children and there mother, starting together, parting and coming together again many times. This works well for a short film as there simply is not enough time for a complicated narrative or too many characters.

The themes are very hard hitting and realistic. A mother is close to loosing her 4 girls to social services because of there poor quality of life. The girls are dirty, hungry and unhealthy however are happy and love there mum as she loves them. When the mother leaves here children outside the pub all evening to enjoy her fist night out in a long time it brings out sympathy and anger in the audience. A mother should never abandon her children like that however we are sympathetic because the mother herself has been abandoned with the children, she is broke and is in desperate need of some fun.

The characters are pretty stereotypical of the area represented but with there own unique aspects too to create more interesting characters. For example David, the guy the mother meets is a typical geezer, tracksuit and accent, getting her to buy the first round of drinks. He does however show understanding and generosity when the wasp causes the children to be revealed at quite an awkward moment. Instead of being angry at the mother or abandoning them all he takes them for chips, then takes them all home to talk it over. Although angry at the mother for leaving her children and feeling sympathy for them, we also feel sympathetic for her, her situation and anger that people have to face these problems.

Arran: Lou Lou Lives Here

Lou Lou Lives Here is a short Film, under 4 minutes long. It is a thriller and shares many of the conventional trends of both horror and thriller films. The sound is very typical of these genres with howling wind and the sound of crows in the woods. The music is diagetic and dark. It builds tension when it is required.

The story is linear following just one character who either is a dog, or somehow morphs into one. This super natural element would fit with the other horror conventions in the film.

Stereotypes are used, for example the man who is after the child is in a white van which usually holds bad connotations. The filming itself is very interesting. It is filmed in black and white which makes me wonder if this was to create a darker atmosphere or because dogs are colorblind. There are also shots almost fish eye like in the way the edges of the shot are blurred or burned out, again maybe to create the feel of through the eyes of a dog.

The plot is quite hard to understand. I believe the girl resembles the free spirit of the dog. I think we are supposed to view the man in the van badly due to the stereotype attached and the fact that the dog returns home after mauling him. The man seems nice to the dog however and i don’t sympathize with the dog or the girl. Maybe it was simply supposed to be viewed from a neutral point of view of an incident involving a dog.

Guy 101, Gouldstone, 2007, by ADAM RUTHERFORD

http://www.live.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p005dsmr



Guy 101 is the story of a man who meets a gay guy on a chat site and hears about his unusual encounter with a hitch-hiker. The film is a drama which uses 2d animation and a voice-over to tell it's story. The animation is completely original and brings a really interesting contribution to the film, setting it aside from your average drama.



The beginning of the film uses a dial up connection sound and classic 8-bit animation to show the narrator logging on to the Internet. As the words come into focus on the screen the audience finds themselves in a chat room. The rest of the film uses different types of "old school" computer animation to match the narration. The best scene in my opinion is when we hear about guy 101 driving down the highway and picking up the hitch hiker. As we hear the events discussed we the story unfold in the style of as if it was happening on the Internet. An example of this is in the picture above. The sign above the car says "Hitch-hiker has entered the room".

The sound used in the film is very simple but clever, consisting of the sounds of the Internet, such as dial-up connection, and the constant narration which acts as not only dialogue but also a suspense builder because of the way it's written.

There was no real message I could take from the film. I thought it was shame that the film really played on gay stereotypes, such as the guy having a handlebar moustache, and taking a hitch-hiker home for violent casual sex and claiming his only regret was that he didn't get his number. I wouldn't say the film is intentionally negative to homosexuals but the only point I saw in the film was gay cliches. Guy 101 won a bafta for best original short film in 2007 and best student film at the Bradford Animation Festival for it's "creative use of contempory graphics"


http://www.onedotzero.com/track.php?id=89&dvd=2810311

http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/BAF/2006/review.asp

Lighting by ADAM RUTHERFORD

The lighting used in social realsim films is almost always naturalistic giving the film a realisic feel. Films by directors such as Andrea Arnold and Ken Loach are classic examples of films that stick to this ethos. By using Natural light such as the sun or an indoor light, the audience subconciously feel like they are living the film because it adds to the realism.

The image above is from the short film Wasp (Arnold, 2003) and is a perfect example of filming using naturalistic lighting. The sun is to the left of the shot and has the same shadows on the cast as it has the trees and cars. This shot looks like a real family in a real neighbourhood making the film realistic right from the start.

One of the video's I watched on youtube while researching lighting was fairly rubbish but did have one useful piece of advice on filming out doors. It says "Don't wait around to film on a sunny day, use overcast days to your advantage, they usually give you equal lighting. The lighting is gentle and even and best of all - it's free". Here's a link to the video:




Wating for a nice day is risky as the weather in England is unreliable at best, and a sunny day can also cause hot spots on the body when filming outside. Filming on an overcast day you can basically choose how light it is, and with living in England that shouldn't be to difficult. If we do end up filming on a sunny day we can use a white t shirt or something to act as a defuser.

Indoors we have some scenes where we can just use windows and house lights when filming, keeping the natural feel. However, there are scenes that we will be able to use a basic three point lighting system to illuminate the scene but get rid of deep shadows. I would definatly prefer to use lamps and house lights though because I think it'll make the film look really realistic.

BY Adam Rutherford

Dom Michau Audience Feedback on Idea

Feedback

This is our feedback group on facebook!

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=13005&post=97695&uid=449048835382#/group.php?gid=449048835382&ref=ts

Dom Michau Location

Current Location Ideas


This is a sample shot of the place that the final sequence will be filmed.

 
Kitchen we are going to film in for the scene when Tom is eating pizza.






Bedroom we will use. After it's been tidied a bit of course.








 


Claire Hall park in Haywards Heath.









Smoking area at Central Sussex college for the scene when the protagonists are standing in two groups of friends.






Dominic Michau

Dom Michau Props

Prop List

• Domino's Pizza
• Note pad
• Cigarettes & lighter
• Folder for when they are around college
• Mirror
• Dirty socks
  

Information on Conversation Piece by ADAM RUTHERFORD

Conversation Piece is a short film directed by Joe Tunmer for the BBC, released in 2009.

After Premiering at the Brief Encounters Short Film Festival in Bristol it has now been selected by British Council for international festival distribution.

For all information on the cast, crew and production company info check out:

http://www.britfilms.com/britishfilms/catalogue/browse/?id=56948F131d5913623EMQXRC74E42

Arran : Funeral For a Friend, Roses For the Dead

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsaamq0E964

First of all this is a music video and not a short film however I felt it followed the same trends and narrative as one so have decided to analyze it. I feel the editing techniques and setting are far more relevant to the area we would be filming in than some of the other videos we have been shown.

When asked to analyze a social realist film i instantly thought of this video despite having not seen it for about 3 years. I feel the urban setting, grey skies and grainy flashbacks. The story is a sad one using parallel editing to tell the story of a boy named Arron and his mother after his suicide. Teenage suicide is a hard hitting subject and a big issue these days as numbers are higher than ever.

I especially like the way the stories run parallel so we presume they are happening at the same time, but when we realize what the Arron is doing we then understand his mum is stripping his room and sorting his stuff while mourning after his death. This is helped along by some great close ups to reveal facial expression. The tracking shots put emphasis on Arrons journey which i presumed was just back from school the first time. The atmosphere, absence of bold color and setting really add the the anxed vibe of the video.

Set in Wales there are obvious typical British stereotypes. The boys who shunt Arron on his way home are wearing hoodies, one with his hood up, the other with a shaved head and we are encouraged to dislike them through their actions towards the character we are following. Time is slowed slightly when Arron crosses the two boy’s then carries on normal speed when he is past. This ads climax and tension.

The contrast between fast panning on Arron and then the slow still shots of his mother are really effective at creating two different atmospheres and there is a pan outwards from Arron when he sits to think just before he jumps. This implies loneliness and desperation as well as peace in the vast empty white floor of the building

I find this piece very inspiring because some of the shots i would not have considered before are used to great effect. I also like how simple the video is, it tells a story to great effect using nothing more than 4 actors, everyday costume, a room, a rooftop and a pavement. This shows as a group we can create something great without making our film too complex.

Arran : Eight

Eight is a short film about an eight year old boy who has lost his father in a football disaster. It is without a doubt social realism as it refers to a disaster still relevant to people today. The acting is armature but also naturalistic, as well as the lighting which is typical of the genre. The boy and main character, Jonathan, narrates the film and there are many scenes of him on his own narrating the film using a soliloquy technique.

Like many of the short films I've watched, Eight's narrative structure brings the story back to where it began, at the beach. As the audience we feel like we have been taken on a short viewing of this boy's life, and have delved into his thoughts more than i have seen in any of the other films. An advantage of this is that as viewers we are more involved and care more about him as a character; a disadvantage would be that we are left wanting more, as the story doesn’t fully come to a close.

The strongest themes are of loss and loneliness. This is emphasized by the dark lighting and the scenes of him by himself. The beach, the shed and when he is eating with the reflection of his mother watching him. This scene is clever and haunting. We can make out her facial expression, she is upset. This shows how others have dealt with the death. The film also shows the innocence of youth. Jonathan deals with his father’s death by imagining him as an astronaught and other imaginative jobs. He is also obsessed with football which is common for a child his age. It also creates a bond between him and his dead father and leaves us feeling sympathetic, especially seeing as his mother tries to ban football, which would destroy the only link Jonathan and his father share.

Arran : What I learnt from my AS media product

In My group’s media product we followed many conventions of real media products. We succeeded in creating a huge sense of enigma, which was one of our aims. Some of the main strengths included: a simple story, good use of credits, and good match on action. There are a few things we could have improved to further please the audience to encourage good feedback via word or mouth.

Weaknesses reported in peer feedback included: reflection of torch on poster, and not making enough out of the Shack sequence and needed more shots of the ‘missing wall’. Its this type of feedback that we really need to pay attention to, so we can improve our next product.

I know that as a group we have all learnt a lot in the last year. My jobs have mainly fallen under filming, lighting and sound. The areas I learnt the most in were editing in final cut pro and using garage band to create a soundtrack. In final cut I learned how to crop scenes, change the brightness and color tint of scenes and how to enter transitions and text. The programme made it all pretty easy to be honest, even if it wasn’t as simple as iplayer, which we used for our preliminary.

I had never really used garage band before and although it seemed a bit complicated, using the loops provided I quickly got the hang of it. I tried to make a soundtrack however it failed to capture the right mood so we decided to use some simple dark ambient sounds instead throughout. I thought this was quite effective. I also thought some of our Foley sounds were pretty good and they were actually quite good fun to go out and find. I learned most of what I needed to know about filming in the preliminary exercise so it was quite easy this time round. I’m very happy with our framing and angles; looking back I just wish we hadn’t got as many long shots and a few more close-ups.

One of the roles I didn’t do such a great job with was lighting. Because ours was outdoors I chose a jack and I chose a powerful torch instead of proper lighting. The problem was the torch didn’t light the room but instead only the spot I was pointing it. This made it really difficult to get lighting right and we had to try all sorts of angles. It all looks quite good until the final retreating shots where it is easy to see the dot of light by the actor jolting about, as there was no stand to keep the torch steady. We couldn’t make our mind up if it looks poor or like flickering candle light. But personally, as the light was my job at that time, I don’t like it at all. Unfortunately we couldn’t all find the time to go and re shoot.

While creating our media product I feel I have learnt a lot. I have improved gradually using the technology and programmes provided while also improving my skills of organization and working with a group. I mainly found I had to involve myself more in areas of the project such as the blog. To start of with I was very laid back. I did what I was told and would take part in discussing the story line but not really do anything off of my own accord. This changed when I realized how little time we had left and I didn’t want to let down the people in my group. I’m happy I learnt to take more of an active interest this time round and actually had much more of an input.

Compared to the preliminary exercise, I also found that location scouting was a lot more difficult. I learnt that not everything goes your way no matter how hard you persevere. A good example of this is trying to get a platform at the station in Hayward’s heath. In the end we compromised and found balcome station was perfect, as there is no staff and very few people for us to get in the way of. It was also quite close by to the rest of our filming which was useful and I think the results were actually better than had we used Hayward’s heath.

I found I was also more time-efficient than previously although filming and our editing time was not as well thought out as it could have been. These areas lacked good planning but most areas were well thought out such as the storyboard and the research of the blog.

Technology wise I think I learnt the most. I wasn’t confident at all with any of the software in the preliminary and I was just getting used to the cameras but now im really pleased with the shots I gathered. On average our peer feedback for the camera categories all scored a two on average. I also had to pretty much teach myself how to use garage band and final cut (with a little help from Ross). I didn’t really master final cut pro, but I can do the basics and really took off with garage band. Both I could barely use during preliminary.

Overall it was a great learning experience and I really enjoyed working with other people. I will take these skills with me to use in the future which will really help me next year too make my A level product even better. I hope to learn even more about using final cut pro next year and also get a keener eye for lighting. We didn’t use a huge amount of lighting in either of our products, which is why I would like to experiment with it in the future.

Dom "Fade to Black" Research and Planning

Fade to Black.

• Genre Dark/ Comedy. Fade to back is about a girlfriend that appears to have just been dumped by her boyfriend. The whole piece is filmed by a handy cam that appears to be controlled by the lead protagonist, Sheridan Smith. This is effect as it gives us a very restricted narrative. The use of low key lighting meant that the opening scene has a very dark feel and we can tell that the protagonist is upset about something. The use of the bunny rabbit in one particular scene is very stereotypical as a prop for this type of situation as the girl reverts back to almost child like tears. Another interesting use of props is the contrasting skull ash tray and the china doll. Her costume in the second scene is very clever in reinforcing that she had been dumped by her boyfriend but still wears his clothes and still cares about him. The iconography of the cigarette is the idea of a depressed, run down and very unladylike like thing to do.
• The style used in the piece is like an on going monologue. This makes the piece that is all filmed by the protagonist in her house and normally bedroom a lot more interesting. we learn how the characters feeling about her break up and her boyfriend now sleeping with her best friend. The way it uses the handy camera means that the restricted narration means we only see her point of view until the end of the film with the phone call from her x best friend. We are then told another side of the story that makes the whole film seem very funny.
  
• It uses the short film format well as it keeps us interested whereas a feature length film may be hard to keep the audience interested. The narrative structure as I said earlier means that the piece is funnier at the very end as the other side of the story. the restricted narration means that we learn a lot about the main character and this helps to keep the audience interested. I like the idea of using a simply restricted hand cam film like this but i don't feel that it demonstrates and originality in camera framing or actual film making as it is more about the dialogue. And the acting has to be a good quality for it to work and good actors are not readily available.
• All of the sound is deigetic in the piece which adds to how realistic the piece is and how at some stage or another the audinece members have felt like that or known someone who has. The use of the telephone call at the end being off screen along with the screaming tells us that something bad has happened as first time Gillian called the protagonist pulled the phone out the socket.
  
• The themes and representation in this piece is of a young women that is dependant on her now ex boyfriend. The piece positions the audience in favour of the protagonist as she struggles coping with the loss of her boyfriend to her "best" friend. This is achieved through the restricted narrative and the use of only one camera operated by the protagonist. The protagonist is represented as a very fragile women that is dependant on her now ex boyfriend. The stereotype of a needy clingy girlfriend is played on a lot in this piece.

Dominic Michau

Short Film Promotion - Keira

From what I have read and discovered from the promotion of the short films I've analysed, the best method to get your film seen is to take it to a film festival (or several, if possible). A few examples are: Edinburgh International Film Festival (Scotland), Sundance Film Festival (Utah, United States), Raindance Film Festival (London, United Kingdom), Cannes Film Festival (France), Cambridge Film Festival (United Kingdom). Submitting your film is a fairly simple process of postal application form, including a certain number of copies. Many people attend these kinds of festivals (particularly the bigger ones such as those mentioned above) and they are always on the look out for new talent. Many now famous directors got their debut this way, including Andrea Arnold, Ken Loach and Danny Boyle.

On YouTube I found what I thought was a useful informational video on how to market your short film, which goes through key points such as 'Get Feedback' and 'Cast Your Net Wide'...

A useful mechanism for advertising a short film is a poster (trailers are unneccessary because they'd give too much information about the film and make it pointless watching it).

However, from my research it seems it is difficult to find many short films that have even posters to promote them. So far I have only found only: This is a very famous fantasy short film from French director Albert Lamorisse, made in 1956. As you can see, the poster is very simple in design and graphics (perhaps due to the time at which the film was made). It could also be due to the simplicity of the plot - it literally follows the story of a small boy (played by Lamorisse's son) who follows a red helium balloon. The bright red colour of the balloon as a contrast to the greys of the rest is enough to draw the audience's attention, and it displays only minimalistic information - the title and the director. This could create enigma and make people who see the poster want to find out the story, or act as a visual reminder for those who have seen it.

Other social realism posters that I found interesting are: 'Fish Tank' - Andrea Arnold - 2008. This again is a simple image showing the main character alone. She is looking out a window which is an iconographic key for longing, as though something is missing in her life. Her costume and makeup immediately indicate socail realsim (as does the cracked wall behind her) because she looks like a stereotypical working class girl, she hasn't been made-up or airbrushed for the poster - she is meant to look realistic and natural (unlike the types of posters you'd get for mainstream features). The writing displays simple information, and in true social realism style, doesn't give any information as to the storyline of the film. The reviews are clearly displayed which is a good way to promote the film as it shows previous appreciation and gives the audience reason to want to see the film. The choice of colour of the text could be representative of the main girl, Mia, being torn between her tom-boy attitude and acting more girly; without directly stating what the film is about clues are being given. The tagline 'Live, love and give as good as you get.' could entice viewers as it may be an attitude many others adopt towards life. In any case, it neatly sums up the main character's motives for the film.

'Sommers Town' - Shane Meadows- 2008: This poster is another example of typical social realism. It displays the two main characters side-by-side (showing their equal roles in the film), looking into the camera (a poster technique that is likely to make more people look). It is in black & white which is representative of the actual film, though interestingly in other versions of the same poster certain parts are in colour. For example, Marek (boy on the right)'s shirt is red which draws the audience's attention and the fact that it's a football shirt might entice certain types of viewer as a suggestion that football is a theme in the film. The top banner line boasts 'From the acclaimed director of This Is England', which will immediately attract the attention of any fans of Shane Meadows' work or, indeed, his first successful film. It also has the same actor playing Tomo (boy on the left) as played the main character in This Is England, which is another audience-attracting mechanism. On this poster the title is the only thing in colour, which focuses our attention. The letter M and the letter W mirror each other, which apart from being aesthetically pleasing could be seen to represent the boys and their somewhat strange attachment to each other. In the background we are allowed to see the location, which appears to be fairly dingy-looking flats - this reinforces the sense of social realism and gives the audience a subtle context for the setting of the film.

When creating our own social realism posters for the ancillary task, these and others will be useful inspiration for ideas and style.

For promoting our film, a useful platform will be social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo. Millions of people all over the world are connected via these sites and use them every day - particularly our target audience of teenagers. It would be simple and free to start a group to support the film, and to spread the word.

Further websites I found useful on Short Film Promotion are:

For legal information - http://www.shortfilmcorner.com/R%C3%A9glement_us.html

For tips - http://www.filmindustrynetwork.biz/how-to-make-a-short-film-promotion/

What I Learnt from my Foundation Portfolio - Adam Rutherford

We had a great deal of difficulties with our foundation portfolio which directly resulted in our poor mark

• Sound- for me sound was one of the main areas we messed up on. Our film ended up sounding and looking ridiculous mainly because of our choice of music. We had soft emotive music playing throughout the film and it ended looking like a music video with a terrible terrible soundtrack.
• Our diegetic sound was ok, with an effective explosion at the end and perfectly audible dilogue not effected by wind. From this i've learnt that keeping the music toned down, and not trying to do so much with it is very important to making the film not only sound good but look good as well.

• Camera - I think the most important thing i learnt reagarding cameras is to always set the white balance before filming. Some scenes in our film were very high contrast and looked a bit odd, making the continuity suffer as a result.
• We definatly should of used our tripod for more shots as well. A lot of our shots were shakey because we didn't use the tripod enough. When makking my next film i'll definatly be using the tripod more, except in shots where I want it to be shakey for realsim, POV shots, etc.
• There was one shot we filmed where one of our group memebers could be seen in the refection of a glass board. This is of course was a mistake but is completely amateurish and very unprofessional. Now that I am in my A2 I have no excuse to make mistakes like this and I will make sure while watching the rushes on the day of filming that errors like this do not occour.
  

In conclusion there are aspects of filming and editing that we as a group need to focus on in order to not make the same mistakes that my group did last time. I am confident that we can all look at the individual mistakes we made in our respective groups last year and work together to make an awesome film

Feedback for Dom Michau

Information on 'Eight'

'See this short and I defy you not to be amused, charmed and moved' - Daily Telegraph

Tim Clague won the Jerwood Film Prize for Young Scriptwriters with 'Eight', and it was then made into a short film by Stephen Daldry (who later went on to direct 'Billy Elliot') and shown at all Warner Villiage cinemas (alongside the feature 'Practical Magic').

'Eight' was also featured in The Guardian, The Times, Evening Standard, Variety magazine, Total Film and on BBC Radio One and BBC South Today.

For information on the production and cast of 'Eight' from IMDb, click here...

Information on 'Wasp'

'I have a passion for filming reality' - Andrea Arnold, director.

To read information on the production and cast of 'Wasp' on IMDb, click here...

'Wasp' premiered at the Edingburgh Film Festival in 2003, and from then went on to win: Best Live Action Short Film (Academy Awards); Short Filmmaking Award, International (Sundance Film Festival); Best Short Film, Honorable Mention – Natalie Press (Stockholm Film Festival).

RESEARCH FEEDBACK for Keira Smalley

Final Idea - Keira

This is inspired by the film I have posted below ('The Space Between Us') as well as having the common theme of relationship anxieties that seems frequent in social realism.

Kate and Tom have been together for a few months, and despite the many things she can see are wrong with him, she's falling for him completely. He can see that she's perfect for him and there's no reason why he shouldn't...but he doesn't feel the same way. At the end they both have something important to tell each other, the problem is that it's the opposite of what the other wants to hear.

A full storyline including shots and dialogue will be shown when we upload the storyboard and create the animatic.

Here are the people who will be playing the two main parts, posing in a shot which represents the story. It may be that we decide to use an image like this for our poster:

Keira Smalley

Goodbye to the Normals, Jim Field Smith, 2006 by ADAM RUTHERFORD

http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p004tdm8

This short film by Jim Field Smith studies the event nearly every parent goes through - when thier child threatens to run away. This film is a comedy and it is the brilliant acing by Alfie field which asserts the genre throughout. The film is, like Conversation Piece (Tumner, 2009), based on a song.The film was commissioned by Robbie Williams to help promote his new album at the time, Rudebox and uses the song "Burslem Normals" to soundtrack this one is paticular (he used this promotion technique on several other shorts).

As soon as the film began I thought it was a sci-fi feature because of the odd title and also the song playing had that vibe to it. The non diegetic sound ends as the dialouge begins and ends as Magnus says his goodbyes and leaves. Apart from this the whole film is dialouge giving the film a realistic feel. Magnus is very amusing while not trying to be giving the film a very funny twist to what otherwise could have been quite boring.

The film has a beginning middle and an end but because of it's legnth it can be quite difficult to work out where one starts and the other begins. The beginning of the film is Mangus and his father asserting the fact that he's running away to America, which merges into the middle where the father tries to talk him out of it. The ending of the film is hilarious and gives it a great finish, although doesn't really resolve itself as a soloution. You can only assume that the parents ended up going off to get him back home.



I love the camera angles in this film as they capture the Parent/child relationship but doesn't match what's going on in the film. While Mangus and his father are chatting it is filmed from thier Point of View looking at each other. When we see the dad's Point of View it is filmed from a Low angle to show him looking down at his son. When we see Mangus' point of view we see him looking up (high angle shot) at his father showing the typical parent/child relationship and who is in charge. However Mangus is in charge of this situation and basically leaves his parents not kowing what the hell to do with the circumstances. I find this really intresting and shows that Mangus has no fear of what he's planning to do.

The themes of the film are not ones to be taken to seriously as the film was used to promote Robbie Williams and his album. However the use of camera work hints at the Parent/child relationship I discussed earlier and is very effective when watched with the dialouge.



BY Adam Rutherford

Inspiration - Keira

The Space Between Us is from BBC Film Network, and I analysed it as one of my initial research tasks.

Its key themes of relationship anxiety run linear to our idea; the camera work, lighting and sound (particularly use of voice over) will be inspiring in our own social realism work.

Link here................

Keira Smalley

Initial Ideas - Keira

• 1st Idea: 'Cat Burglar' About a girl who has to go and feed her neighbour's cats while she is away on holiday. We see her going there every day, checking the post, feeding the cats and opening/closing the curtains etc., falling into a routine. One day she goes and notices a fat envelope that clearly contains money on the welcome mat with the woman's name on the front. Because it is unsealed she opens it and takes out a note reading: 'I know this doesn't make up for me not being there, but it's all I've got.' (Or something along those lines). Thinking that no one will notice if she takes a little bit of the money, she does so and returns it to the mat. The next day she returns and we see that she's wearing one new item of jewellery/clothing (with a close up to highlight it, suggesting she bought it with the stolen money). She does her routine as normal, walks past the money and quickly decides just to take a bit more, thinking she deserves it for all the work she's doing. The same routine happens over and over again, speeding up with quick close ups on the actions (walking to the house, showing a new item she's bought, feeding the cats, opening the curtains, walking past the money, taking some etc.) When the woman returns and asks her if there'd been any post while she's away, the girl points to the pile and she sorts through, eventually coming to the envelope with the money. Upon looking inside and noticing the money, she looks shocked and the girl thinks she's in trouble, but the woman merely says: 'Aw, isn't that nice, ____? (whoever)'s sent me £20!...Why don't you have it as a thank you for feeding the cats?' The girl smiles, takes the money and leaves.
• Idea 2: We are introduced to a character who is on the verge of commiting suicide (or is possibly passed out). The story explains how she/he's come to this state and what's happened in the day to make them come to the conclusion that they should end their life, and what small differences could have been made to make an entirely different conclusion.

The problem with the first idea is that it may be too repetitive and become boring for the audience, and we want to keep them as entertained as possible (obviously). There was also a problem with props as we didn't know how to get that much money, or successfully make copies that could look real enough.

The problem with the second idea is that it would be highly complicated and require potentially alot of dialogue and requirement for quality acting (which isn't readily available). It is a very serious theme to tackle in 5 minutes, and we felt that another could more effectively demonstrate our skills without the complicated plot.

The next post will contain the inspiration for and plot of our final idea.

Keira Smalley

Allocation of Roles - Keira

Keira Smalley - Directing, Editing, Storyboard, Promotion.

Dom Michau - Camera (tripod), Editing, Location, Props.

Arran Fitzgerald - Camera (handheld), Storyboard, Editing.

Adam Rutherford - Sound, Editing, Lighting.


Keira Smalley

Dom Michau "Wasp" Research and Planning.

• Genre= Social Realism. Wasp is set in working class flats somewhere in middle of England (possibly London). Using location that look familiar and British is very typical of social realism. The iconography of the picture of David Beckham is very iconic in the fact that at the time was film David Beckham was a massive role model for working class people as despite being a international football star he started off in a place very similar to the one in Wasp. The film has a objective narrative structure as we see things that the characters don't see straight away. For example when the wasp flies into the babies mouth we see it getting closer and closer before any of the characters notice. Objective narrative is commonly used in social realism usually to show the misfortune of characters or just to show a wider view of what is happening at the time. The theme of wasp seems to be the struggle of a working class single mother to look after her children and be the young women that she is.
  
• The characterisation of the mother is fantastic as we see what she is like from the very first scene of her walking to another mothers house in her nightgown and no shoes on. Andrea Arnold, the director has used Interesting camera framing on particular parts of faces to highlight facial expression and show emotion that the characters are feeling. For example there is a medium close up that shows the oldest child in a mother-like position - holding the baby and watching her mum flirting with a man in a car and looking worried and a little bit protective of her mother it's like role reversal. Another example is when a more shaky in-and-out-of-focus extreme close up, which is more to make the audience identify with the woman by showing what she's concentrating on the man in the car, Dave's face.
  
• The advantage of this film being a short film is that we are brought straight into some action, the mum fighting another mum in her nightgown and wearing no shoes. it feels as though we are just another person living on the estate watching the fight happen and this is a common theme the whole time. I was made to feel as though you were just looking into a seemingly average day at their house but with the arrival of Dave it changes everything. Due to the restriction on the amount of time the short film it has it means that the director, Andrea Arnold, was forced to show traits of characters through action instead of dialogue I found this a lot more interesting and gives it a more real feel to it as it is just like we are watching the families normal day. For example when they are at home the mum gives the oldest a bag of sugar to share out with her sisters, this shows that they are a very working class family with very little.
• Due to the film being social realist Arnold seems to have decided against Non-diegetic music in the piece as to create a sense of true realism. There are plenty of diegetic sound however which is crucial to making the film seem real as at the pool table for example if the mother hit the ball with the cue and no noise came it would take away the realism from that moment. The diegetic sound is something that the post production team would have to consider. The would need to decided whether to use Foley sounds or pre-set sounds from programmes like garageband.
  
• The themes and issues in Wasp is one of the struggle of a working class mum to cope financially and mental to look after her kid and live the life of a normal young woman. Working class is often targeted for social realist films due to the working class being a social class that the most people can relate to and those that can't are made to sympathise with the family in particular, despite the mothers awful parenting and aggression. The stereotype of the working class single mother was really reinforced in this film as she dreams of marrying David Beckham, a work class success story. The families struggle with money makes us sympathise with them a lot and despite her poor parenting I found I was sympathetic of the mother as well as all she wants to do is live a normal life that a young women should do.

Dominic Michau

Dom Michau "Joyride" Research and Planning.

• Thriller : Uses dark colours all the way through lots of greys and blacks are used to create a sinister feel to the piece. Iconography such as it being night time, the man smoking a cigarette and the eventually fatal electrical sparks. The sparks are used as an icon of danger and eventually become a very ironic tool in the end of the film. The props and costumes are very realistic as it is made clear from the beginning that the protagonist is a electrician and therefore the audience would not find it odd if he was to have a Stanley knife in the back of his car, etc.The contrast between the colour of the clothes of the characters with the protagonist in the traditional white shirt and antagonist in black clothes shows the distinction between the good and evil in the characters. The non diegetic music in the piece was used to create suspense and gave a very uneasy feel to the initial car journey.

• The film uses irony as a unique convention used in the thriller genre. It shows the struggle and escape of a victim of a random attack only to find that the thing that he was meant to be doing instead of driving home, when he was attacked ( aka fixing the fault electrical pole) was consequently the reason for his death. This is strengthen by the policeman saying 'You won't be wanting the cigarette I was going to offer you then' and then the spark hitting him causing his death. I enjoyed the way that the film used a very basic kidnap theme and made it ironic and well rounded in the end.

• The advantage of the short narrative in joyride is that the characters in the film are developed enough for use to sympathise with the protagonist and dislike the antagonist without a lot of dialogue. The characters actions speak a lot louder than their words in this film which means that more action is packed into the film. This makes it very quick paced which is very stereotypical of a thriller. the short narrative also helps us with realising the irony of the thing that could have saved him from the whole ordeal ended up killing him. This use of irony in the film has inspired me into thinking about other ironic situations and seeing if they could be made into a short film.

• The use of sound in joyride is very good and deals with issues of having a small budget. A lot of the action, when the police officers are killed and when he catches fire after a spark jumps from the electricity pole. This is a very clever way of making a typically expensive scene and through the use of editing and putting in the sound of what is happening with a different shot, saves them lots of money and is effective and convincing of what is happening in off screen.

• The films seems to be a ironic representation of how a man's laziness in the long run causes him to suffer. The protagonist seems to be a working class character that is working as a council electrician or pylon maintenance worker. Joyride at the end position the audience to sympathise for the protagonist but also to see that being lazy and avoiding work will get you no where. Stereotypes were not blatantly evident in the film but may be to a Scottish or different audience that knows the accents of the antagonists.

Dominic Michau